This Sweden defender at the World Cup isn’t your typical soccer player: He’s a baron!
MONTERREY, Mexico: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are among the soccer royalty gracing the World Cup in North America. If you want real-life aristocracy, head to Sweden’s squad. Gustaf Lagerbielke, a 26-year-old defender who played the entire match in Sweden’s 5-1 defeat of Tunisia on Sunday, is a baron from a noble family in Sweden. His father and grandfather are counts. Soccer players typically come from modest backgrounds — take Messi and Ronaldo, for example. Not Lagerbielke. “I mean, it’s rare,” he said in an interview ahead of the World Cup. Lagerbielke grew up in Djursholm, a wealthy suburb in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
